“So, you fell into my little trap,” Alloy says, smiling wide as he leans back against the wooden tavern wall and crosses his arms. Why did the name River Raiders not set off a million red flags in my mind? I should have known that inescapable trouble would be lurking in Bandit’s Pinch, and by the look on this punk’s face I don’t think we’re going to be getting out of this without a fight.

“Trap?” I ask. “Looks more like a pop up carnival full of clowns.”

Rin grabs me by my arm and pulls me around to face her. “What are you doing? You’re just gonna piss them off.”

I furrow my brow. “I thought you were all about fighting these guys? It was your idea to begin with, and by the way it’s looking we might as well go back to level one swinging.”

“Yeah, that was when none of them were necromancers! I don’t think you understand what you’re getting into.”

“Yes I do. We ran the Five Roses Keep together. I know this kid. He’s an asshole. And if I have to take him down a second time, that’s what I’m going to do. But, trust me. I don’t want to fight if I don’t have to.”

Alloy saunters down the steps of the tavern and onto the dirt street, taking an open space in the line of River Raiders that surround us. “Did I hear the word, fight?” he asks coyly.

I ignore him for a moment and speak to Rubble: “Do you think that you could use Deep Sight and Twin Shot to deal the kind of damage you were doing in sunshine mines?”

He glances at Alloy to examine his stats, then whispers back to me, “He’s definitely got more armor than the cultists. I don’t know.”

Rin grabs me by the arms and makes me look her in the eyes. Those violet pools of shimmering light normally instill a feeling of awe in me, a vast respect for her determination and righteous fury, but right now only anger and fear emanates from them. “You don’t want to fight a necromancer.”

“Oh, but I want to fight him,” Alloy says, crossing his dark robed arms across his chest. “He sent me back two levels. Not only that, but I’d also consider the treasure we could’ve gotten out of the Five Roses Keep a loss as well. Worst part about it is how he was too afraid to face me himself, so he used the dungeon against me.” He looks to Rin and Rubble with those beady yellow eyes and says, “you two may not have issues with me, and for that I am severely apologetic for the thrashing that’s about to follow. But, if you should you choose to, you are welcome to join our ranks here at Bandits Pinch. It’s only Aiden I wish to destroy, and it should be quite obvious to you that I have a superior tactical mindset. This whole village was a trap of my design. I knew that Aiden would eventually find his way here. Going from Sunshine Mines in Birchcastle, because that’s where all of the newbies begin, to the Dead Bay in Gormsay. By controlling this little strip of land and screening every passerby, I knew you’d come right to me.”

The way he grins like a devil really ticks me off. I draw my sword, point it’s shining steel point towards him. “So what if you know how people usually train in Libertas? That doesn’t give you the right to be such an asshole and a bully. You forced me at knifepoint to run the Five Roses Keep, even when I told you that my ship was in danger. You realize, that if I prove I’m right and I can’t save anyone and all those people die, it’s going to be your fault.”

Alice scoffs with a wave of his hand. “Please, don’t go on with that drivel. It’s insane! No one is going to die except for you, right here, right now.” He draws his wand from the inner folds of his black robe and shouts, “attack!”

Everyone around us springs into action. All of the magic users around us draw their weapons: their magical books, their orbs, and their staffs. Evan the monk readies himself with a few flashy stances that ripple the air around him in a yellowish glow, giving him buffs of some kind. Others draw short swords, axes, and a few rangers knock their first arrows.

Luckily, Rubble and Rin are just on top of it as I am. They draw their weapons. With the three of us, all I can hope is that we have a chance to kill Alloy and maybe a few of the other bigger targets before getting the hell out of here. In our party chat, I tell them as much, and they nod in silent acknowledgment. With one goal in mind, we begin our rush towards Alloy.

But Evan’s movement speed is way faster than me, he steps in between me and my target before I get anywhere near close enough to slash the necromancer with my sword. As the monk comes at me, I use my diamond shaped targe to catch most of his furious blows, then rapidly side-step and activate my double-back ability to add my sway to the whole party’s armor and magical defense, then slash away a decent quarter of his HP with a lucky swipe. Arrows whistle past me and thud into the monk. Rubble’s arrows. With his combination of offensive abilities, we have him at 25% of his HP already, and I realize that Evan must be built for damage, not tanking. It’s the only logical explanation.

Rin casts Sulfuric Gasses! A toxic cloud emerges!

Evan chokes on the fumes for 31 damage! 27/208 HP remaining!

Alloy chokes on the fumes for 22 damage! 146/168 HP remaining!

Kris chokes on the fumes for 26 damage! 64/90 HP remaining!

Lainey chokes on the fumes for 29 damage! 22/51 HP remaining!

Evan chokes on the fumes for 30 damage!

Rin has defeated Evan! You gain 14,000 experience!

Wow! That spell is fantastic for damaging large groups! It might not be the biggest numbers I’ve ever seen, but the messages of other lower level players keeling off keep coming for a few more seconds as I turn my attention to Alloy. With a flick of his wrist, something darts out from his hand like a crossbow bolt. I catch it with my shield, but searing pain blooms through my forearm. A jutting piece of yellow bone has slammed through my shield and is sticking through my arm!

Aiden casts Bone Spike on you for 33 damage! 471/504 HP remaining!

For a moment, I’m completely stunned, staring down at the pointy barb in awe that my shield did practically nothing to stop it. It just goes to show how little magic resistance a warrior has, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Bone Spike has some kind of special armor piercing quality. I have to get up into his zone, and quick!

Launching myself forward and avoiding arrows that whiz by me and plink against the dirt road, I close the distance between Alloy and me. One hard slash across his chest sends him reeling back. Between me and the damage from the gas, he’s already down to 98 HP and I’m starting to think there’s a chance we can take him out.

As I go for another swing, Alloy screams out, “get the warrior off of me!” He jaunts back and pops off a spell that rumbles the earth beneath my feet. I barely manage to get out of the way of huge bone spikes that come erupting out of the earth, forming a spiny barricade twenty yards long between us. But I refuse to let Alloy believe he is safe from me and try to destroy his Bone Wall.

You hit the bone wall for 35 damage, but suffer a cut and take 17! 454/504 HP remaining!

Alloy casts Life Pull on you and transfers 49 HP to himself!

Damnit! I now understand why Rin was so hesitant to get into a fight with a necromancer. Even 3 levels below me, Alloy’s abilities make him a real pain. With only 400 health remaining and no possible way to heal, I know that time is not on our sides. I glance back at Rin and Rubble, who are faring far worse than I am at less than half health. As they trade blows with Lenard and Finn, I realize just how little damage Rin is capable of doing to other magic users, and how much trouble Rubble has against warriors up close.

Rin notices me looking at her, then pauses as a look of worry overcomes her. She points at me and yells, “Look out behind you!”

I duck away, something splits the air above my head, and I shift myself around to face whatever is me. A quick glance of his stats tells me that the stout, bearded man in front of me is a warrior. Even though I’ve got five levels on him, he starts coming for me, reeling his arm back to stab me with a thrust. I activate Complete Defense ability and throw up my shield, but he counters with his own abilities.

Dylan uses Imbue Weapon!

Dylan uses Relentless Assault!

Dylan uses Plunging Strike!

With inhuman speed and agility, he leaps off the ground and slams his sword down on me faster than I can react. A line of pain travels down from the top of my head to my chin as I gasp at the amount of damage he’s done.

Dylan hits you for 117 points of damage! 288/504 HP remaining!

This warrior is totally built for damage, not for defense like I am, which makes it even crazier that he’s able to blow through my armor and put up numbers like that. I throw up my last defensive ability, Imbue Shield, then begin to wail on him as I take stray damage from other sources.

Alloy cast life pull on you and transfers 42 HP to himself!

You hit Dylan for 34 damage! 192/226 HP remaining!

Dylan hits you for 52 damage! 194/504 HP remaining!

I’m so infuriatingly mad that I want to pull my own hair out. I can’t deal enough damage on my own to take this warrior out in time, I don’t have any way to heal without killing someone, I can’t reach Alloy, and it’s only a matter of time before my HP drops to 0. The longer we’re here, the more likely we’re going to wipe. A quick glance at Rubble and Rin tells me that they’ve exhausted almost all of their abilities as they resort to normal attacks and their HP slips to 1/4 health.

Alloy casts Summoning Bones!

Alloy’s wand is made of Scorched Bones!

A Scorched Skeleton has been summoned!

Next to him, a tall humanoid skeleton with bones charred and covered with smudges of soot, comes crawling out of the dirt with a javelin in hand. This fight is only getting worse! I have to do something, but I just don’t pack enough of a punch to break away from this warrior. Time is of the essence. I have to do something radical to turn the tide of this fight!

A snap decision comes to my mind. I jaunt away from the man attacking me and flick my hand to open up my HUD. Inside my inventory, my eyes race through my items until I find the sword titled ‘???’. I swallow hard, knowing what lies on the line if this goes wrong, but follow through with conviction and think to myself, converge! The ability activates.

My vision fades to black as I’m pulled up and out of my body, the River Raiders and my companions disappearing beneath me and frozen in time. For a moment, I can’t see anything, but when it brightens I’m standing back in the Five Roses Keep’s great hall. It is nothing like it was when I was there. The castle is warm, and bright with red colors that filter through stained glass pictures of roses. A whole feast is displayed on tables that are no longer destroyed and covered in spider webs.

Music fills the air and women rush to and fro in long, flashy dresses, and the men wear dashing tunics and suits with emblems and family insignias worn proudly. Curly mustaches and perfume galore. All is merry in this old keep, that is until the big doors swing open at the entrance and everything grows silent.

A craven looking man with a long, gray beard enters the room with a limping gait. He leans against a staff with intricate carvings and adorned with a white crystal on top. His arms are lean muscle, and one of his eyes has a white glow that matches his staff. A strange power seems to surround this stranger as he approaches who could only be the Rose King.

Sitting atop the apse on his throne, his ruby-embellished crown glitters in the light. He holds his head high, dignified, but gradually grows more concerned as the visitor gets closer to the steps up to him.

“Stop where you are!” The King belts. The shuffle of armor comes from every direction as his guards move in to protect him, but the old man keeps walking closer, puts his first foot on the stairs and begins to climb. The King rises to his feet and draws his sword, a shining magical blade that is undeniably a king’s sword. A backsword sabre with a slight curve reminds me of old calvary swords or ‘elven’ style swords in popular fiction. Its blade is shining silver, the hand guard golden vines that weave around to cup his fingers, and a bright red ruby in the pommel that’s shaped like a rose.

Before the fight can even begin, the gray bearded man produces a bright light in his hands with some kind of magic, then throws it at the King. It flies faster than an arrow and smashes into his breastplate, smoking as sparks fly all across the room, igniting tapestries and rugs as the King screams in anguish. His body catches on fire, and everyone rushes from the room all at once.

Everything slowly fades: the tables, the screaming people, the old man and the stained glass. The very color of the room returns to the sullen grayness of a destroyed castle until the only thing left is the standing skeleton of the King with his rose sword, and the hollows of his eyes are on me.

I draw my own sword and find it’s the same as his. A silver saber with so much magic the very air seems to shake. The thing is dazzlingly light, and its statistics appear to me:

(LV. 10) The Rose Sabre (A Class Backsword Sabre)

+20 Damage

Special Feature: Substitutes STR for DEX and doubles class speed.

Magic action: extends to 10 feet in length for one attack. 60 second recast.

Glee overcomes me. This sword is absolutely incredible! With this, I could just reach over the bone barricade to strike Alloy. And to think, according to Rin and Felix there’s even three more weapon classes above this: AA, S, and SS!

Before I have too long to feel excited about this thing, the skeleton of the Rose King rushes towards me with the point of his sword. Then, the strangest thing happens: I lift off of the ground again, leaving my body behind for a second time. From the ceiling of the keep’s big room, I see myself ready my sword arm, then roll out of the skeleton king’s charge.

I realize that what I’m seeing is now more of a cutscene, as I remember that my chance at wielding this sword is completely dependent on my Sway, not my personal skill. The Rose King comes at me again, and my character tries to weave side to side and find an opening at the same time. Having the same sword as him does seem to help. I can tell just by my movement speed that the boons this sword will give me is incredible.

With jaw-rattling nervousness, I watch myself duke it out, trading blow for blow as I activate the sword’s ability to extend and slash wildly. For a moment, I half believe I’ve got this in the bag, only for my hopes to vanish as I watch the skeleton king hit me with a cheap punch to the face before his sword extends through my chest in the most grizzly death I’ve seen yet.

Even though I’m glad that I don’t feel the pain of the blow, a great disappointment comes over me as my character falls to his knees. The Rose King removes his sword and settles me face-down on the dirty floor before turning away to take his place on his throne once more.

My vision turns to black again, and when it returns I’m floating over Bandit’s Pinch once more. Dylan the warrior is still standing battle-ready next to me, along with Alloy cowering behind his bone wall fortification, frozen in time for only a second more. As the battle resumes, I watch myself clutch my chest, then fall over at the warrior’s feet.

Aiden attempts a convergence!

Convergence failed!

Aiden has been defeated by a power stronger than himself!

I watch the River Raiders beat Rin and Rubble back to level one, wishing that I hadn’t come to Bandit’s Pinch.